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Chapter 679: The Vast World (7)

○ What are you saying…? Don’t tell me you’re planning to take Salzeo, who’s hiding in there, hostage?

At Earth’s flustered voice, Yeongwoo calmly nodded.

‘Of course. Why wouldn’t it work? It’s not like this is the first time we’ve taken a hostage.’

○ That’s true, but….

As if at a loss for words, Earth mumbled for a moment.

Then, raising its momentum again, it spoke.

○ The opponent is Salzeo. Aren’t you making a huge enemy too easily? They’re already furious with us as it is.

‘That’s exactly why I’m saying this. Salzeo is already trying to kill us anyway.’

○ …Right? Considering the price of the fleet we destroyed alone, it’s probably not something they can repay even with their lives.

‘So would making them even angrier really change anything? If we get caught by them, we’re dead either way. So it doesn’t matter how much more we piss them off.’

○ Something about that logic sounds off.

‘Don’t overthink it. In situations like this, the best option is to charge forward looking only ahead.’

With those words, Yeongwoo strode toward the navy-blue building, and Earth once again spoke with concern.

○ Fine, let’s say we kidnap a member of the Salzeo family like you said. How are you planning to get the ransom? It’s Salzeo. They won’t just hand over money obediently.

Yeongwoo shrugged once and replied in a nonchalant tone.

‘Of course they won’t hand it over easily. But would they really abandon their own family? Besides, if we put that guy aboard the Earth Ship, it’ll make it harder for Salzeo to attack recklessly. It’s an option that only works in our favor.’

○ ……

It wasn’t entirely unreasonable, so Earth couldn’t respond.

‘We can worry about how to extract the money after we kidnap him.’

○ You’re talking like the kidnapping is already confirmed. Earlier you said you’d only do it if there wasn’t a vault.

‘From what I can see, it doesn’t look like there’s a vault here. And….’

Then Yeongwoo came to a halt right in front of the entrance to the navy-blue building.

‘Kidnapping a Salzeo. Doesn’t that sound kind of cool?’

○ I don’t know about cool, but it’s definitely something no one else would do.

‘It’s something no one can do. There aren’t many ways to escape from a family that has established bases even in a distant galaxy like this.’

Indeed, how many people could possibly hold a grudge against Salzeo?

And yet, the reason Salzeo continued to wield such power was likely because no one dared lay a hand on the family.

According to Salzeo’s iron rule of inevitable vengeance, retaliation would come sooner or later.

‘But does something absolutely invincible really exist in this universe? Anyone can get beaten badly at least once.’

○ Have you considered that might apply to us too? That’s how people end up in big trouble.

‘At least not today.’

With that, Yeongwoo forcefully pushed the entrance of the navy-blue building with his foot.

Kuuung!

To his surprise, the thick iron door actually swung inward and opened, and almost simultaneously, his vision was dyed purple.

“……!”

The hologram guide had activated.

At the same time, a swift presence stirred within the dim space beyond the door, prompting Yeongwoo to twist his upper body reflexively.

Hwaet!

And immediately, he saw it.

A sharply honed silver-white sword shooting out through the darkness.

‘Must be guards from Salzeo’s direct line.’

As Yeongwoo stepped back twice, thinking that, knights clad head to toe in dark gray heavy armor poured out.

Kugugugugu…!

It felt as though massive boulders were rolling out—such was the disciplined movement and solid fighting spirit emanating from them.

“Hey, is there really someone from the Salzeo family in there?”

Yeongwoo pointed inside the navy-blue building with Bastard, attempting conversation, but received no reply.

-…….

Instead.

Chaeaeaeang!

One of the knights standing directly in front struck the tip of Bastard and pushed it aside, and in the next instant, the other four knights surrounding him charged simultaneously. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Kwaaaaat!

“…So you’re not interested in talking. I didn’t intend to spill unnecessary blood.”

Having already gauged their skill from their first move, Yeongwoo immediately pulled his body back to create space, then swung Bastard without hesitation.

Swaeaeaeaeat!

In the blink of an eye, the heads of the knights—who had just barely missed—were severed from their necks.

-……!

The last remaining knight showed a sign of shock upon seeing four guards die in a single strike.

Yet, astonishingly, he readjusted his grip on his sword and charged at Yeongwoo.

“…What? You know you’re going to die, and you’re still coming at me?”

Then the final knight spoke for the first and last time.

—Salzeo always takes revenge.

“Crazy.”

Such a threatening will.

Despite being in an overwhelmingly superior position, Yeongwoo felt a chill run down his spine.

Salzeo wasn’t a galaxy-level great house for nothing.

Taat!

Even now, the opponent thrust his sword forward with tremendous force, and Yeongwoo, moving like a bolt, hurled Bastard.

Swaeaeaeaeak!

Like lightning, Bastard shot forward, pierced the knight’s head, and embedded itself deep into the navy-blue building behind him.

Silence followed.

In just two exchanges, five guards had been taken down.

‘They’re supposed to be guarding Salzeo’s direct line, so I thought they’d be incredibly strong, but they’re not that impressive.’

As Yeongwoo muttered inwardly while looking at the scattered corpses, Earth spoke up.

○ You’re the captain of a planetary ship and also a family head, after all. It’s only natural that ordinary guards can’t match you. Have you considered that you’ve gotten stronger?

‘Is that so? The last fight I saw was a duel between chairmen, so my sense of scale got a bit messed up.’

After glancing around once, Yeongwoo sheathed Bastard back at his waist.

Ssk.

Then he stepped over what had once been boulder-like knights and entered the navy-blue building.

‘It’s incredibly dark. Did they turn off the lights on purpose, or do they just like darkness?’

The interior was quite dark, but thanks to the Void Eye, which greatly heightened his sensory stats, Yeongwoo could clearly perceive the structure inside.

「Ominous Eye」 – Void Eyeball

【Insight ability increased by 50%.】

【Sensory stats increased by 40%.】

【Ashen Gaze】

‘A long corridor ahead. Looks like there’s another room further inside.’

Confirming a thick door at the end of the dark corridor, Yeongwoo moved forward without even bothering to hide his footsteps.

Clank, clank.

The boots of the Vesedel armor struck the floor with loud sounds.

When he finally stood before the door at the end of the corridor, he heard the sound of someone inside adjusting their weapon.

‘Seems like just one person.’

Narrowing his eyes, Yeongwoo listened near the door.

Then.

Knock, knock.

He tapped the door with the back of his hand and called out.

“Are you one of Salzeo’s direct line in there? Unfortunately, your guards are all dead, so don’t bother resisting.”

As expected, there was no reply, and Yeongwoo pushed the door open.

Hwaet.

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Contrary to expectations, the door opened wide.

Anticipating an ambush, Yeongwoo reached toward Bastard—but once again, his expectations were wrong.

“Hm…?”

Inside the large hexagonal room, about 20 pyeong in size, there was only a single presence among various pieces of furniture.

The room was so dark that he couldn’t clearly see the figure, but he could unmistakably sense it.

The presence of someone sitting in a chair, holding a sword in an awkward posture.

“Were those guards really all there were? I thought there might be at least a ninja in here.”

As Yeongwoo lowered his hand from Bastard and muttered, the figure finally spoke.

—What… is a ninja?

The voice was far younger than expected.

So Yeongwoo looked toward the figure in the darkness with slight surprise.

“Oh, a ninja. You can think of it as a kind of assassin.”

Since the conversation had taken an unexpected turn, Yeongwoo scratched his forehead.

“Hey, if you don’t mind, how about we turn on the—”

Just as he was about to suggest turning on the lights.

Hwaaaat!

His vision flickered purple again, and he saw an extremely thin straight line slice across his sight.

‘…A bullet!’

Sensing what was about to happen, Yeongwoo immediately drew Bastard and angled it to shield his head.

And almost simultaneously—

Shit, piiiiing!

With a faint firing sound, a fairly strong impact struck the outer surface of the blade he had raised.

“You bastard.”

The opponent had fired a gun from the darkness.

Enraged by the surprise shot, Yeongwoo instantly closed the distance and grabbed what seemed to be the gun with his left hand.

Kwaat!

The startled opponent’s hand trembled violently.

“You idiot—why are you firing a gun when you’re this scared?”

As Yeongwoo barked, grabbing both the gun and the opponent’s arm and lifting them up at once, a strange presence came from below.

Clank.

An unexpected metallic friction sound.

“…?”

As Yeongwoo tried to look in that direction, the opponent—now practically hanging in midair—spoke in a trembling voice.

—H-How insolent. You truly have no manners.

“Not something the guy who opened fire first should be saying.”

Yeongwoo furrowed his brow irritably.

“Anyway, where the hell is the light switch?”

In the pitch-black darkness, he thought of the designer Lemu almost instinctively.

【Seal of Lemu】

|Whenever you pronounce ‘Lemu,’ you take a jolt of lightning damage and gain favor with machines.

Since the lighting system was, after all, a type of machine, he figured it might respond at least a little.

So—

“Lemu?”

The moment Yeongwoo put the thought into action, a bolt of lightning coursed through his body, dealing ‘tingling’ damage.

“Ugh…!”

And surprisingly—

Pachit!

A bright white electric spark burst from a spot behind the chair where the opponent was sitting.

“There it is.”

As Yeongwoo reached toward it, the Salzeo in the darkness trembled.

Why was he so terrified?

Click.

As power flowed into the hexagonal room and the lights came on, Yeongwoo finally understood why.

“You….”

The opponent’s legs were mechanical prosthetics.

And it seemed they were usually concealed, as a luxurious thick blanket lay fallen beneath the chair.

When Yeongwoo had lifted him earlier, the blanket covering his lower body must have slipped off.

“What’s wrong with your legs?”

They clearly weren’t combat prosthetics, so Yeongwoo even forgot his killing intent and looked at him.

Just like the young voice he had heard earlier, the opponent’s face also looked very young.

If compared to a human, perhaps around middle school age.

Of course, as a member of a great space family, he seemed to be trying to act mature outwardly.

—I’ve done everything I could. Now kill me.

The young Salzeo lifted his chin stiffly and glared at Yeongwoo.

But his pupils trembled incessantly, and a great fear swirled within them.

He was someone who had never truly faced the threat of death before.

“…….”

So Yeongwoo stared at him with eyes that had crossed the unpredictability of the universe.

“Kill you? I can’t do that.”

—…What?

“I’m going to kidnap you.”

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